


shall we laugh some more babe

by bvssbot



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 02:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13203849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bvssbot/pseuds/bvssbot
Summary: with all of seongwoo's attributes that make him such a great friend and a sensitive person altogether, it's an absolute mystery how he manages to stay dense, successfully failing to recognize daniel's feelings for him.





	shall we laugh some more babe

**Author's Note:**

> got a request a week ago to write a fic with dense seongwoo and here we are. meant the fic to be short and sweet, maybe 3k long... yeah. brr  
> hope y'all have fun reading and happy holidays, party people
> 
> title from bap's be happy

kang daniel has a problem. well, that's not entirely true. kang daniel has lots of problems, starting from mundane worries about failing most of his winter exams and ending with things etched deep into his skin, like his mother pretending he doesn't exist (or, rather, barely caring he does).

but, kang daniel has a _problem_ , and he guesses you could say it's kind of dumb that he's so worried about it, if you take into consideration how small and ordinary that problem is.

he likes a boy. well, he really, _really_ likes a boy. and maybe he's immature, kang choding and all, getting worked up for stupid reasons to the point where his friends have to tell him off, but he doesn't think it's that stupid of him to be so stressed out about this problem of his.

 

daniel has always been a little dense — it's not a secret. he's not the most observant person, and concentrates on what he sees rather than on reading between the lines and analyzing every little detail. that's how it's always been and daniel is used to it, used to be the thick-headed one out of his friends. it doesn't bother him, because those who treasure him don't expect more of him that they can get. so when a classmate gives daniel a dirty glance out of nowhere or when someone who likes him tries to be very cryptic in their way of making him like _them_ , he doesn't bother. he has better things to worry about anyway, and his crush falls into that category.

the boy actually has a name — seongwoo. ong seongwoo. probably the first and the last ong daniel will ever meet, sans seongwoo's parents and older sister. he's not any less weird than his last name, at least in daniel's eyes, and maybe it's because daniel's never met anyone quite like seongwoo. jaehwan falls close, having an urgent need in both him and seongwoo to clown around like it's their last mission on earth to make as many people as possible laugh. but even jaehwan is different — he doesn't really care if he makes people laugh, a hit or miss kind of guy that just says shit for the sake of saying it, when seongwoo, on the contrary, clearly tries hard to be amusing, practically lighting up when he makes a joke that people genuinely find funny. which actually makes him and daniel a good match, since daniel finds a lot of things funny, and even though some of seongwoo's jokes are too corny for his taste, he involuntarily laughs every time anyway.

the thought of them being good together never fails to resonate with dull pain somewhere in daniel's throat, because, you see, that brings daniel to the problem at hand — seongwoo is also _dense_ , and that's the biggest of daniel's boy worries. it would be hypocritical of him to judge seongwoo for that, so he doesn't, but it's still a… bother, bother would be the right word, because thanks to seongwoo, daniel learns to pay close attention to details. and, naturally, since he's never been good at it, it's really not that easy to read between the lines.

how they met was through minhyun, daniel's senior and half-time friend, and it's been a few months since the first time daniel and seongwoo talked to each other. daniel liked seongwoo from the very beginning, because seongwoo was smart, and funny, and pleasant to talk to despite the fact that he started jabbing daniel quite a lot once they got used to each other. it's never mean spirited, so daniel doesn't mind, knowing for sure that seongwoo wouldn't make fun of his insecurities and other things that you're not really supposed to laugh at. which, probably, makes daniel only fall for seongwoo even more. seongwoo is sensitive and caring, and even though they've been friends for a relatively short period of time, daniel already feels closer to seongwoo than to most of his friends (except jihoon, because jihoon is like a little brother to him, and jisung, because jisung is like a dad he's never had).

it should be scary — it is, kind of, when daniel finds himself sharing things he wouldn't tell most of the people he considers family with seongwoo. there's something that makes daniel believe what he and seongwoo have is special, but he doesn't want to make assumptions, and there's always minhyun, who's been seongwoo's friend for ages, long before daniel came into the picture.

 

anyhow, seongwoo is good to him. seongwoo is good to everybody, actually, in his own way where he pokes fun at you, yet his jokes carry no malice, and where he knows when to stop laughing and start taking things seriously.

so, with all of seongwoo's attributes that make him such a great friend and a sensitive person altogether, it's an absolute mystery how he manages to stay dense, successfully failing to recognize daniel's feelings for him.

  


 

 

it's lunch hour — which means he and seongwoo are supposed to meet at the library lounge as always, to catch up on assignments and maybe munch on something because the lounge is way more cozier than the cafeteria (even though daniel is sure it's forbidden to eat here).

when daniel slips through the open door of the library, seongwoo is already at their usual spot, occupying one of the chairs near the window at the farthest corner from the exit. there's a bag sitting on the chair next to his, and it makes daniel smile when he notices — seongwoo never fails to make sure the seat is available for daniel. it's not a big deal, not really, but it makes daniel feel all warm and fuzzy inside anyway.

"hey seongwoo!" he beams once he jogs closer, gripping onto his backpack tighter when seongwoo gives him a dashingly beautiful smile for absolutely no reason. it makes daniel wonder if seongwoo really is _that_ happy to see him or if something good just happened to him today and lifted his spirits.

"hi," seongwoo greets, taking his bag off the chair to allow daniel to sit. "how's morning class?"

the dashingly beautiful smile turns into a shit eating grin, and daniel can't even be annoyed — it's makes his stomach flip just the same.

he whines, still. "shut up, not everyone's lucky like you."

"well, it's not like i don't suffer too," seongwoo snorts, looking back down at his textbook.

daniel knows what seongwoo means — when daniel usually gets free somewhere around four o'clock, seongwoo, whose schedule starts in the afternoon, is stuck at the university until nine most of his days. seongwoo says he doesn't mind, that his brain works better during the evening anyway, but daniel worries still, because seongwoo sometimes forgets to eat during the day, not to mention that he stays up pretty late.

speaking of food…

"did you bring your lunch?" daniel asks, looking around seongwoo while taking out his own tupperware jisung has packed him out of his backpack. there's no food in the vicinity — only pens, textbooks and notebooks strewn across seongwoo's chair and the small coffee table in front of them.

seongwoo pauses, looking up from his book. the expression on his face changes for a mere second before nonchalance filters in, and daniel doesn't get to catch the meaning of it.

"oh, i didn't buy anything," he says, shrugging like it's no big deal.

daniel frowns, but then gets an idea.

"be right back," he says, springing to his feet from the chair. he finds some change on the bottom of his backpack and then tosses the bag on the chair, not looking back at seongwoo as he makes his way to the exit and out of the library, down the stairs to the cafeteria placed on the first floor.

there are a few vending machines for those who don't fancy cafeteria food, and daniel chooses a ham sandwich for seongwoo, spending the rest of his change on a chocolate bar. he doesn't buy anything to drink — he knows seongwoo has probably already found his thermos and downed at least half of daniel's coffee.

 

 

daniel almost falls in a hurry on the stairs on his way up, apologizing to a girl he accidentally startles. by the time he makes it back to the library lounge, seongwoo has indeed found his thermos — he looks up from it in surprise when he notices daniel come closer.

"where did you — " his words cut off as his eyes fall to the food daniel got him.

daniel hands it wordlessly to seongwoo, plopping down on the chair next to his backpack and impatiently grabbing the tupperware off the coffee table. it smells delicious when he opens it — just like it always does, — and daniel's mouth waters.

"daniel…" seongwoo starts, placing his textbook on the table and sitting up straight. "you shouldn't have."

daniel shakes his head, ignoring the guilty tone of seongwoo's voice and placing a dollop of the illegally good fried rice into his mouth. "it's no biggie, i don't mind doing it for you."

daniel's own heart speeds up as the words leave him, and he looks up to seongwoo's face to inspect his reaction. daniel hopes seongwoo catches the implication behind his words.

"thank you," seongwoo replies, lips pressed against one another but the corners of his mouth curled up. daniel sends seongwoo a smile of his own, hoping it doesn't look too sour — seongwoo's expressions are too hard for him to judge, but he guesses seongwoo didn't get it.

 

they eat in silence for some time, seongwoo staring off into the window and daniel too focused on finishing his lukewarm food before it gets cold, trying to eat away his frustration. he has no right to be frustrated, because it's not like he just asked seongwoo out on a date and seongwoo didn't understand it was a date-date and not a bro-date, but even that doesn't ebb on the negative and self-conscious thoughts piling into a heavy, dusty tower inside daniel's mind. the insecurities and frustrations tend to often be different, but there's always this one thought — what if seongwoo is purposely ignoring his hints?

daniel is aware seongwoo might not be the bravest person he knows, and even has personally witnessed seongwoo going out of his way simply to avoid confrontation. it doesn't make daniel like him any less — seongwoo is only human, after all, plus, daniel is a bit of a coward too, and that he's been harboring his crush for weeks and still hasn't said a clear word about it to the crush himself just confirms how much of a pussy he is when it comes to important things (read: his friendship with seongwoo. talking to his mother. apologizing to a coworker for taking his frustration out on her once). hell, daniel barely even mentions it to jisung, even though jisung does give decent advice. the topic is just… not something daniel wants to tackle often. so he's a pussy, _boohoo_.

so there's a chance seongwoo just doesn't want to acknowledge it — and it hurts to assume that, because daniel would prefer seongwoo to talk to him and either say that daniel should give up on having feelings towards him or… something else.

 

daniel hears seongwoo sigh and quickly shakes his worries away. he feels bad for feeling bad, so instead he decides to just forget about it.

"'sup?" he asks, when seongwoo's sigh isn't followed by anything. he's folding the wrapper of his sandwich carefully, and daniel's eyes linger on seongwoo's pretty fingers for a second too long before daniel finds it in himself to look at his friend's face.

"no, it's nothing," seongwoo says, giving daniel a reassuring smile. daniel's worries grow bigger again — is there something that's bothering seongwoo? and if yes, why can't he share it? daniel doesn't like to pry and, when seongwoo doesn't follow his words up with anything, is forced to let it go for now. he trusts seongwoo will tell him if it's something truly important, and if seongwoo decides he doesn't want to share it — well, it's his right.

daniel hums, shoving the last of his lunch inside his mouth.

"how's your show doing? you kno', the one with what's-his-face?" he asks as he chews, putting away the now empty tupperware inside his backpack and getting out his calc homework. he sighs inaudibly — calculus has never been his favorite subject.

"lee jongsuk, daniel," a snort. "and okay, so far. the main couple is annoying though," — another sigh — "getting tired of all unnecessary hetero romance subplots."

 

oh, right. there's another thing… seongwoo is gay. _too_ , seongwoo is gay too. daniel still hasn't decided what's worse — crushing on a straight guy who would never think of daniel in a gay way or crushing on a gay guy who's dense and cannot take hints. he knows for sure both situations make him miserable, so there's that.

daniel makes a _fighting_ gesture and scrunches his nose, getting seongwoo clutching his shirt in faux agony in response.

nothing out of ordinary happens after that — they study, they talk some more, and daniel's heart threatens to jump out of his chest a few times. just the usual.

  


 

 

it's six on a saturday evening, and they're supposed to be meeting up to buy christmas presents. seongwoo is running a bit late, as usual, and daniel, like the dumbass he is, left his house too early _again_ because he never learns.

it's freezing outside, the cold temperature of early december leaving hot pinpricks on the skin of daniel's cheeks and bare hands. he jumps from foot to foot to somehow warm himself up, wondering why he told seongwoo to meet outside the station when they could've met somewhere on the platform. it's too late, anyhow, because daniel is already out and seongwoo's last text says that his train is to arrive shortly. so daniel clenches his teeth, shivering with his whole body, and spaces out until there's a tap on his shoulder.

"hi," seongwoo says when daniel's slightly wet eyes focus on him finally.

"oh! hi! sorry, didn't see you there," daniel apologizes, feeling a smile bloom on his face involuntarily. seongwoo looks nice, his face refreshed for once and no usual eyebags visible in the bright street lights. amazing how a week of ditching class and catching up on sleep can do wonders — daniel just hopes seongwoo didn't miss anything important when he was taking time for himself before the examinations begin.

"it's alright, idiot," seongwoo smiles too, saccharine and familiar. "did you wait for long? it's so fuckin' cold."

he visibly shivers, shoving his hands further inside his pockets and hunching his shoulders. they start walking in the direction of the lotte mart, their shoulders brushing occasionally — daniel still doesn't know which one of them walks closer and which doesn't step aside. it puzzles him every time, because seongwoo isn't that big of a fan of skinship. he doesn't shy away from it like daniel's junior jinyoung, but he's far from being like minhyun or jisung, who don't miss a chance to drape themselves all over their friends.

"it's alright, i don't mind freezing my ass for you," daniel chuckles and glances at seongwoo's face. it's almost a natural reaction — to study his reaction each time.

seongwoo rolls his eyes, but his smile doesn't waver. daniel's heart goes wild — he doesn't quite know what to think of it. "i'm so honored."

"you better be," he claps seongwoo's back, and instead of dwelling stirs the conversation into a more neutral field.

 

 

somehow, they end up roaming myeongdong. it's not that surprising, actually, because seongwoo fails to find a good enough present for his sister and daniel — for a few friends, so they leave lotte mart with their bags full of snacks (in daniel's case) and trinkets (in seongwoo's) and head down to the shopping district. it's crowded at this time of day and month, to the point where daniel has to cling onto seongwoo's elbow not to lose him. seongwoo doesn't say anything, but daniel guesses he doesn't mind, and the thought is enough to make his hands sweat.

they dive into a two-store tech shop at some point, separating because seongwoo wants to look at the tablet choices and daniel because he sees a section dedicated to bluetooth speakers — he gets an idea.

he remembers the last time he and jaehwan hung out, the speaker jaehwan owns kept making weird noises when daniel suggested they listen to music. it was annoying to say the least, and they had to ditch the speaker altogether and just use jaehwan's phone. jaehwan didn't seem that sad about it, but daniel has seen him use the little thing for years on end — it was probably upsetting at least a little bit, not to mention that daniel knows for a fact jaehwan doesn't have money to buy a new one at the moment. daniel does, however, because even if his mother might not love him as much as he would've liked her to, she still sends him money, and she's far from being the poorest woman in busan.

the wide choice baffles him at first, until he sees a familiar brand and confidently walks closer. he looks around and then picks up a moderately sized speaker from the shelf, inspecting it — it looks cool and well-made despite that daniel's technology knowledge starts with how to sync his iphone with itunes and ends with how to open the task manager on his laptop. the speaker is expensive, too, and daniel decides it'll make a nice present.

he startles when he feels a presence behind him — it's seongwoo, looking down at daniel's hands with curiosity.

"whatcha looking at?" he asks, standing next to daniel.

"a speaker," daniel spins the said item in his hands to show seongwoo the front. seongwoo hums and grabs the tag hanging off the handle to inspect it.

"pretty pricey," he says, brows furrowing cutely as if he's afraid daniel is going to spend his own money on it.

it makes daniel laugh. "it's for jaehwannie, i don't mind. really wanna give him something good this year to make up for how happy he makes me," he smiles, scrunching his nose at the cheesiness of his own words. he doesn't mention how his gift for seongwoo is twice as expensive and twice as meaningful.

"oh." seongwoo says flatly, closing his mouth shut. it makes daniel look at his face in confusion — did he say something wrong?

there is suddenly a weird mood shift when seongwoo looks annoyed for a mere second before giving him a small smile that doesn't look genuine even to daniel's eyes. daniel tries to not get frustrated with how seongwoo _still_ doesn't let him in on how he truly feels sometimes.

it bothers him, but he chooses not to say anything, too afraid to stir the beehive.

 

"find somethin'?" he asks instead, looking back down at the speaker. even if seongwoo doesn't approve, or _whatever_ , daniel's going to get it anyway.

"mm, no. they don't even sell apple here. why must seongyeon want an ipad? the official stuff's so expensive," seongwoo whines, and just like that the atmosphere shifts back into something friendly and familiar. daniel chuckles, glancing up at seongwoo's forlorn face.

"you know you could get her something else, right?" he asks as they make their way around the store, not quite ready to check out and leave yet. it's warm here, and even though there's a lot of people shopping, they're able to navigate around easily.

"gasp," daniel laughs at seongwoo's reaction. "you're a fool who knows nothing. last year i got her something she didn't want and then a few months later found out her boyfriend was the one who was using it."

"yea? what was it?"

"a coat."

"a coat," daniel giggles, taking a phone case off the hanger.

seongwoo takes one too, inspecting it like it's the most interesting thing he's ever seen. "her boyfriend is really small. and it was a unisex coat, so."

"right."

"it hurts, daniel. i'll really have to spend four hundred thousand won on her," seongwoo sighs and drapes himself over daniel's back as they move down the aisle, making daniel slow down and suck his lips inside his mouth to hide a smile threatening to break out on his face. it's silly how happy seongwoo makes him without even trying.

"i can — "

"i'm not making you pay for a gift for my sister, niellie," seongwoo says and lets go shortly, standing straight. daniel tries not to miss the touch too much.

"i don't mind," he shrugs.

seongwoo sighs again. daniel glances up at him, but seongwoo doesn't appear to be annoyed — only fondly exasperated.

"i know you don't, but i do," he replies, and there's that.

  


 

 

the intercom hanging near the door makes a sound, cutting through the silence of the apartment, and a second later the door opens with a soft click. daniel picks his head up from one of the couch pillows under him.

"hi hyung!" he says, smiling at jisung shaking the wetness from his coat.

"hey niellie," jisung greets and freezes when he looks up, face comical.

daniel scrumbles to sit up, suddenly acutely aware of his double chin. jisung laughs anyway.

"how was your day?" daniel asks, rubbing his nose in slight embarrassment and locking his phone.

jisung exhales loudly, his shoulders slumping as he dumps his bag near the wall and makes his way to the couch. when he plops down, he looks twice as tired than the second before — it worries daniel tremendously. he knows jisung has been working hard lately, skipping hours of precious sleep now that he finally got his own show on the radio he works at, and daniel _knows_ that jisung has never been more grateful — but it takes its toll on his well being.

"ugh," jisung grunts, sinking into the couch. "exhausting. don't even wanna talk about it."

daniel wants to object, but jisung has already made up his mind.

"how's yours?" he asks, patting daniel's hair lovingly. "had fun with seongwoo goon?"

at that daniel shifts to sit closer, beaming from ear to ear. jisung's arm naturally wraps around his shoulders as they settle against each other. "yeah! should've dragged him to karaoke months ago," he really should've, who knew seongwoo is that good of a singer. "he got drunk off two bottles of beer."

daniel giggles along with jisung's laugh.

"he sings very prettily, hyung," he sighs, twisting his phone in his hand. "i wish i could listen to him forever. have him sing to me whenever we hang out. would that be weird?"

jisung's quiet laugh dies out, and it's silent for a long moment before he speaks up. "you really have it bad, kiddo."

daniel doesn't reply, pressing his lips together. there's no point in denying that he's head over heels for seongwoo, but he's dreading where the conversation is about to go.

"when will you tell him?" ah, _there_ it is.

daniel looks down at his sweatpants clad knees, wiggling them.

"i don't know," he says, but doesn't elaborate whether he doesn't know when or whether he doesn't know if he'll ever tell seongwoo at all.

 

he doesn't want to mess this up — mess _them_ up, and bring his feelings into their perfectly fine friendship, bother seongwoo with them when he's not even sure how seongwoo would handle daniel confessing. what if he decides daniel just isn't worth dealing with the awkwardness that would follow after seongwoo's inevitable rejection? the thought always makes daniel sick to the stomach — at this point, he can't imagine not being friends with seongwoo. they're like two pieces of the same puzzle, and daniel doesn't want to call seongwoo his other half because that would be cheesy, but it does feel like it sometimes.

 

"i don't think i should tell him," he says after a while, grateful that jisung gives him time to think.

"why not?" jisung's tone is gentle and coaxing, as is his hand squeezing daniel's shoulder.

"because — because it'd just make things weird for him. i don't want to weird him out, hyung…"

"why would that weird him out? he's a good boy, niellie, you know that. he wouldn't let any of you two ruin your friendship even if he doesn't have the same feelings for you," jisung placades and brushes daniel's hair off his forehead. daniel wants to agree, because yes, he knows that seongwoo wouldn't give up on daniel just like that, but his insecurities are stronger than rational thoughts — it's easy to give in.

he sits up, pulling out of jisung's loose hold on him, to organize the trash from his snacks on the coffee table into a pile, occupying himself in order to give himself time to think.

"i don't know," he says.

a pause.

 

"remember when i was working at that telecom company?" jisung says suddenly, making daniel meet his eyes in confusion.

he remembers — it was a few years ago, when they've just moved into the apartment they live in now, and it was tough times for jisung. he didn't like the company he worked for nor his job and what it entitled, but it paid well and they needed that money because daniel has had a huge fight with his mother that resulted in her refusing him his allowance until they made up. jisung had been freshly promoted, but after weeks on the new place he's realized that him not settling in well wasn't just about being weirded out by the sudden promotion — he was simply unhappy, exhausted from the doubled workload and the new environment. now, he's exhausted too, but it's different, because daniel knows for a fact that jisung is happier than ever with where he is in life.

"yeah?" daniel frowns, not knowing where this is going.

"remember a few months after my promotion i ran into a friend of mine — i told you about this, — the one who owns the station? how he told me there was an open place for a dj. he asked me if i was interested since he remembered me deejaying in university. who does that even, pft, what a ridiculous guy," jisung huffs.

daniel remembers jisung talking about this too, in excited voice over late dinner. he remembers telling jisung that he would make a great deejay — and he really did. daniel thinks he knows what point jisung is trying to make, and nods, urging him to continue.

"i was just promoted, paid well, my coworkers were nice... and i dropped it all for a job i wasn't sure about," jisung says, playing with the rip on his jeans. daniel purses his lips. "it took a lot of courage to make that decision, even though i knew i would be happier doing something i liked. and you just cheered me on then. so, what i guess i'm saying is that — "

"i should go for it 'cause i'll never know how it'd turn out if i don't," daniel cuts him off, nodding his head. he doesn't look at jisung, but feels him sit closer. jisung places a hand on daniel's knee and squeezes it reassuringly — it works like magic, making daniel relax a bit.

"niellie, what if…" he pauses in search for the right words. "what if what happens after makes you happier than you are now?"

at that, daniel wants to object, feeling his hopes go up the more jisung talks. maybe he does have a point, maybe daniel really should go for it. it's almost christmas, and isn't christmas the time of miracles? daniel sure will need one for this to turn out good.

"i'll think about it," he says in the end, unable to decide yet, and rubs his cheek.

 

it's good enough for jisung, who pats his hair a few times and gets up.

"i'll go change. have you eaten?" he asks, voice a bit muffled as he's taking off his sweater and disappearing into the hallway.

"yeah, me and seongwoo grabbed a bite," daniel replies, unlocking his phone and falling back on the couch, allowing himself to fully relax and think about his friendship with seongwoo another day.

 

 

 

daniel does think about his friendship with seongwoo another day. and then another, and another, until he finally makes up his mind to confess. he thinks a lot about what ifs — how can he not — and the more he dwells on it, the more he wants to confidently believe jisung's words.

he knows it's a lost battle when thinking about confessing doesn't make bile rise up in his throat like it used to. he thinks it's a step forward, but is it the right direction?

daniel doesn't come up with a solid plan, because even if he does make up his mind and decide he will confess, taking it too seriously scares him, makes his insecurities show their ugly heads and bring in the usual anxiety. he does, however, plan when to confess — he and seongwoo are going to minhyun's christmas dinner, and daniel thinks it would be the perfect opportunity to either ruin everything or possibly make their lives a bit better, which would be the best possible scenario.

 

there's no doubt it's going to be dinner turned party, not when sungwoon and taehyun arrive last on the evening of the 25th of december with way more booze that they can drink at the dinner table.

daniel is nervous — not visibly, because there's a lot of people around to distract him, but fears creep up on him in-between shoving food into his mouth, downing shots and talking, talking, _talking_ no matter how hard he tries to have fun. he thinks it's only natural that he's nervous, and thinking that helps him battle those fears and enjoy himself.

there's not a lot of people at minhyun's party, but it's enough loud-mouthed assholes (daniel included) in the same room for it to be noisy. they're a close-knit group — funnily, consisting of both seongwoo and daniel's friends.

it hasn't always been like that, and it's a known fact none of them mind that daniel, jaehwan, sungwoon and taehyun are closer to each other, just like seongwoo, minhyun, hyunbin and youngmin are their own friend group — but in the end they're all mashed together into a big mess of adults who rarely act the part (sans minhyun and rarely youngmin), and at this point it's just as weird not to see sungwoon and minhyun together as it is not to see sungwoon with taehyun, and daniel swears jaehwan will someday drop him for hyunbin.

the evening is cozy, and fun, and the food is great, and seongwoo looks effortlessly stunning — as if he's glowing from the inside, wearing a wide, genuine smile on his lips. he seems to be full of energy, and as they drink more and more he only becomes louder and funnier. it's a sight to behold, daniel thinks, laughing so hard his tummy hurts.

 

 

it's past midnight when they get bored of food and decide to finally exchange gifts, plastering themselves all over minhyun's living room. they argue for a long time on how to do the exchanging part until they settle down on doing it at the same time, too impatient to sit around and wait for each one of them to open their respective presents. daniel can't be more happy about that, considering the nature of his gift for seongwoo.

the first present daniel gets to give away is jaehwan's, and daniel finds it hard to contain a bright smile at his reaction.

"dude," jaehwan starts, swallowing thickly as he quickly opens the box in his lap to get the speaker out. "i swear to god."

there's laughter in his voice, and a second later jaehwan shifts closer on the floor to tug daniel down with his elbow around daniel's neck, pressing daniel's cheek into his chest with all his might.

"thank you, niel-ah," he says sincerely, pretending to cry, and daniel laughs as jaehwan tightens the embrace, almost pulling daniel onto himself.

"anything for my bff," daniel replies easily, looking up and suddenly meeting seongwoo's eyes across the room. seongwoo looks away quickly, as if he was caught staring at something he wasn't supposed to witness, even though daniel doesn't mind his eyes on him.

it makes daniel feel weird, but it's then when jaehwan pulls away and lets go of him, only for daniel to be tugged up into another hug, this time from sungwoon.

"i can't believe you got me fuckin' mario odyssey," he whispers, pulling back to wipe a tear, fake or not.

daniel laughs — sungwoon has been talking about the game ever since it got released, and it was probably the easiest decision daniel had to make when he was thinking of christmas gifts.

"you're welcome," he grins, rising to his legs.

 

the rest of the hour goes in the same fashion, and the tightest hug daniel has pleasure to receive that night is from tipsy minhyun, even though daniel's gift to him isn't anything special — minhyun is simply affectionate like that. it still feels nice, because there's nothing daniel likes more than pleasing his friends, and it makes him ridiculously happy to see such a heart-warming reaction to a handheld vacuum cleaner.

the presents he gets from his friends only work to boost up his mood to the skies, be that the ugly pajamas hyunbin bought him as a joke or taehyun's thoughtful gift of an electric swatter to tend off bugs.

before daniel knows it, seongwoo sits next to him on the floor, near the neatly decorated christmas tree, holding a tiny bag in his hand. daniel beams at him — he's so happy, it's awfully easy to forget about his nervousness altogether. he thinks he really can do this.

"hey," seongwoo greets, smiling dopely. his nose is a bit red from drinking, but he doesn't appear to be more than tipsy and it reassures daniel — he wouldn't have confessed to a drunk seongwoo.

"hey you too," he shoots back, noticing with the side of his eye how most of their friends has migrated to either kitchen or bathroom.

seongwoo bites on his bottom lip. "here," he hands daniel the bag. "your — er, gift. i hope you like it."

"i know i will," daniel says heartenly, noticing the familiar posture of nervousness in how seongwoo immediately pulls his hands into his hoodie pockets once daniel accepts the present.

he wonders what makes seongwoo so nervous and inspects the bag — it's plain white, though it's obvious it's a gift bag, and nothing hints at what the present might be. when daniel peers into it curiously, he sees a small wrapped box on the bottom and a white card. he gets out both, laughing as soon as he opens the card.

"a dabbing gene. seriously?" he laughs harder, looking up to seongwoo's smug face.

it's so _stupid_ , because the card doesn't even say anything — daniel thinks seongwoo probably made it himself. found the stupid drawing, spent money on photo-printing paper, then printed it… the card is cringey, but the thought behind it isn't, far from it.

daniel shakes his head and carefully puts the bag and the card away, onto the carpet next to him, and gets the small box from his lap.

"cute…" he says, smiling down at it and tracing the tips of his fingers on the wrapping paper with cartoon-ey reindeers running around on the snow.

he gently unwraps it, careful not to rip the paper like he did with all of his previously received presents. seongwoo doesn't say anything, only smiling at him when daniel glances up to his face.

 

inside is a small velvet box, ones you usually put rings in but slightly longer. daniel's heartbeat quickens, fingers freezing in the air for a moment before he finally decides to open the box. his eyes widen when he sees two bands sitting together neatly in the middle.

 

"what…"

"niellie," seongwoo starts quietly, making daniel look up. seongwoo is back to being nervous, as if he really is about to propose, but the edges of his face are soft with warmth. daniel doesn't know what to think of it. "ugh, i should've came up with a speech beforehand… we've — we've been friends for five months now and i just want to say that i couldn't ask for a better best friend."

seongwoo then puts a hand around his mouth, expression on his face turning mischievous as he leans closer to daniel.

"don't tell minhyun i said that," he stage-whispers, and daniel laughs in disbelief, unable to stop himself even if seongwoo quickly drops his act. "but… uh. i love you and i bought us matching friendship rings to uh — i don't know. i just saw them and thought they'd be perfect for us so. yeah."

he finishes lamely, dropping his gaze to his lap like he's embarrassed. he probably is — the tips of his ears are as red as daniel's own sweater, and it's so cute daniel wants to smoulder him into a tight hug.

he doesn't, and looks down at the rings. he contemplates telling seongwoo that they seem less like friendship rings and more like wedding bands, or asking seongwoo if he even talked to the store consultant about them before purchasing. daniel flushes, carefully getting one of the rings out of the box and inspecting it. it's made of three sections — one golden, one silver and one black at the bottom. there are numbers and days of the week curved into it in tiny simple letters, and when daniel probs one of the sections with the tip of his finger, it shifts.

he swallows the lump in his throat that then spreads like wildfire of affection inside his chest.

 

"i love them," he says, finding seongwoo's eyes in time to see nervousness turn into something radiantly positive. daniel might be dense, but if it's not pure happiness, he is indeed a fool who doesn't know a single thing.

"really?" seongwoo confirms, giving daniel a tentative smile.

"a lot," he nods, getting the second ring and putting it on his palm next to the first one. the puts the box away. "so…"

"i take one, you take one?" seongwoo asks, sitting so close they bump knees. daniel nods once, drifting closer without really meaning to.

"which finger do you wanna do?" he asks, holding his breath.

"um… index?"

daniel breathes out, grateful, — he doesn't think he could've handled it if seongwoo wanted it to be their ring fingers. "okay."

seongwoo takes the ring that's slightly smaller in diameter, and they put them on at the same time, daniel on his right hand and seongwoo on his left. daniel's sits well on his finger, not too loose nor too snug — perfect, as if it was tailored just for him. he admires how it looks on his hand for a while, and then brings it next to seongwoo's.

the rings… look like wedding bands, masculine yet pretty in their own way. they look _special,_  and daniel can't help but make a tiny noise as they put their hands together.

 

if he needed any sign whether he should confess or not, he got it.

 

seongwoo coughs, retracting his hand back into his lap and twisting the ring. "anyway, where's my gift?"

"ah…" daniel hunches his shoulders, suddenly feeling embarrassed and unprepared. "it's kind of…"

seongwoo makes a confused face. "what?"

"..."

"did you break it or — "

"no! no, i didn't," daniel sighs, rubbing his nose. this is harder than he thought it would be, and he's not even confessing yet.

he looks around as if in search for help, and meets minhyun's amused eyes across the room. minhyun is the first to look away, giving daniel a small smile before going back to talking to taehyun, allowing daniel and seongwoo to have their privacy. it's not enough though, because their friends are nosy — daniel can't risk making a scene.

 

"can we go to the dining room?" he asks, gaze falling somewhere on seongwoo's eyebrow because he's suddenly too shy to look him in the eyes.

seongwoo looks baffled, brows drawing together. "why? are you gifting me your dick or something?"

he cackles while daniel flushes further, laugh stuck somewhere in his throat. he scrambles to get up on his legs and reaches out his hand for seongwoo to take once he does, forgetting it's kind of clammy. seongwoo doesn't ask any more questions, giggles as he lets daniel pull him up and lead them out of the living room. their hands naturally fall apart — daniel dwells on the fact too much, but it would be silly to hold seongwoo's hand.

 

when they make it to the dimly lit and thankfully empty small dining room, daniel's heart is close to jumping out of his chest. it's finally _happening_ , and daniel has no plan whatsoever — his improvisation skills has always lacked, so he doesn't have a clue what he was thinking when he decided to leave himself at the will of fate.

he moves to sit down but then changes his mind and stands near the window. seongwoo doesn't have to be told to follow, but he grabs a tangerine off the table before he does.

"okay," daniel starts, looking down at his feet. "promise you won't be mad at me."

seongwoo snorts, but his voice is serious when he talks. not serious enough to make daniel nervous, just to let him know he's not taking it — whatever it is — lightly. "what did you do?"

"just promise, okay?" daniel begs, finally meeting seongwoo's eyes. seongwoo visibly gives in.

"alright. i promise not to get mad at you. unless your gift to me is a fart or something," he huffs, looking down at his tangerine as he peels it. daniel looks down too, eyes lingering on the ring around seongwoo's index finger. it looks really good on him.

"it's not! i — remember when you told me once about how you played drums all through elementary and middle school?"

"yeah?" seongwoo sounds confused and his fingers still for half a second.

daniel pauses to take a breath, holding out his palm for seongwoo to place the tangerine skin onto. seongwoo does, and daniel carelessly chucks it on the table. he doesn't look up to seongwoo's face, eyes landing somewhere on his chest. "and you know how jaehwan is friends with this dongho dude whose friend owns a few studios?"

"what are you on about?" seongwoo wonders, chewing. "yeah, i know. i actually met the dongho dude once."

daniel nods. "well, i… i rented one for you, along with a set of drums. for two months. starting in… uh… starting tomorrow actually. so you could practice."

there. he said it.

"what."

and…

"and i'm in love with you. liked you since we met and then fell in love kinda and here we are. i love you. please don't be mad, okay?" he asks, peering at seongwoo under his bangs.

the expression that meets daniel confuses him, because it's not really what he expected. seongwoo's eyes are wide in surprise — that part was foreseen, along with the slightly opened mouth. but what daniel sees in seongwoo's eyes is what startles him the most — it's the disbelief that makes him panic for a second before he recognizes something else that mixes with that disbelief, something full of emotion daniel can't quite put a name on. it's almost like… seongwoo is happy to hear that, despite his obvious shock. it just doesn't make sense.

"oh," seongwoo replies eloquently. swallows, his adam's apple bobbing. "i'm not mad."

daniel holds his breath, waiting for more.

"that's… hahah," seongwoo laughs, sincerely like he actually finds the situation funny, pressing his palm to his forehead and closing his eyes. "i'm — i don't know what to say but not for the reason you probably think."

daniel opens his mouth to say something, but closes it shut when he can't find any words.

"i can't reply to you yet," seongwoo doesn't sound apologetic, but gentle and warm, and daniel feels somehow hopeful despite everything. "i… need time to process this."

he laughs again, shaking his head and looking down shortly.

"i can't believe i'm not dreaming, hah," he says, eyes landing on daniel's cheek. daniel blinks. _what do you mean_ , he wants to ask, heart jumping up to his throat at the glint in seongwoo's eyes. "i promise i will reply to you tomorrow. i just need to think about this. really… think about this. i promise you won't have to wait for long. and i'm not mad, okay?"

he cups daniel's cheek, thumb caressing the skin of daniel's cheekbone lightly before he rectracts his hand. daniel's chest feels too tight, happiness and confusion and disbelief of his own crushing down on him like a typhoon of emotions. he swallows them down, palming one of his burning ears.

"okay," he says, voice weirdly hoarse. he clears his throat. "okay. um — if. if you want to, i could show you the studio tomorrow and… if you're ready by then you can…"

"alright," seongwoo agrees easily when daniel trails off, unsure of what to say. "sorry for doing this to you."

"no, no — it's okay," daniel reassures him, slumping down and dropping his forehead on seongwoo's shoulder. "i understand."

seongwoo hums, rakes his fingers through daniel's hair like he sometimes does, and laughs shortly, the sound joyous and bouncing off the walls around them.

"wanna go back to the party?" he asks after a few minutes of oddly comfortable silence.

"m'kay."

daniel straightens, meeting seongwoo's eyes and giving him a small smile.

something makes him believe that the reply he will get tomorrow is going to be better than anything he can possibly imagine.

 

 

 

when daniel told seongwoo the address of the studio and seongwoo replied that he'll meet daniel outside the building, daniel didn't object — even though they went back to normal after his confession and it didn't put a damper on the mood, when daniel woke up on the morning after christmas, he was a bit frightened. still is, actually, as he follows the map on his phone guiding him through the streets of mapo.

it's weird to think of how seongwoo reacted to daniel's feelings, and daniel keeps thinking he remembers everything wrongly, because it's almost impossible to believe he somehow managed to not fuck things up. so when he walks to the building they're supposed to meet at and sees seongwoo already waiting for him, he almost chickens out.

he stops in his tracks, twisting the material inside of his coat pockets, and just observes for a moment.

 

seongwoo doesn't appear to be happy, nor angry or sad — indifferent at best, scrolling his phone as he jumps from one foot to another to warm himself up. his hair is unstyled, and even from a few feet apart daniel can see the traces of alcohol they've belted the night before on his face — a slight stubble, bags under his eyes. he doesn't look more tired than usual, even giggles at his phone silently as daniel finally moves, making tentative steps towards him.

"seongwoo?" he calls, when he's in an arm's reach from seongwoo who still hasn't noticed him. seongwoo startles, almost dropping his phone. his comically wide eyes make daniel laugh, nervousness seeping out of him a bit. it's just his good old seongwoo.

"gosh," he gasps, placing a hand on his chest dramatically as he pockets his phone with another. "don't scare me like that."

daniel shakes his head, looking up at the building left to him. here they are.

"here we are," he says, pursing his lips.

"yeah," seongwoo nods, looking up too. "looks artsy."

daniel nods — it does, but that's what you would expect to see in seodaemun.

"shall we?" he points at the door, meeting seongwoo's eyes, and they exchange smiles. seongwoo looks more excited now — and that makes daniel fear what's to come even less.

 

there's a small reception near the elevators where a girl their age greets them and tells them the owner of the studios isn't available today and is terribly sorry that he can't show them the place himself. she trusts them a set of keys with a keychain hanging off of them, bold white letters — the number of the room, daniel assumes — on a small acrylic rectangle.

they don't take the elevator, climbing instead three sets of stairs on the narrow staircase, and when they arrive at the needed door, they pause.

"so," daniel starts, turning to face seongwoo and handing him the keys. "are you excited?"

seongwoo beams, his crooked teeth on full display as he looks down at the keys. "hell yeah dude! are you kidding me? my own studio…"

daniel laughs, happy that seongwoo seems genuinely excited, because it's all daniel wanted, to be honest.

they don't linger longer than that — seongwoo opens the lock and they step inside. daniel finds and turns the lightswitch on the wall near the entrance on, and seongwoo whistles.

 

the studio is pretty much empty so it appears bigger than it is, but it's cozy, warm brown and orange-y colors surrounding them — and daniel is pleasantly surprised. he doesn't know much about this kind of stuff, but everything looks professional and neat, clearly new yet already somewhat lived in.

as daniel takes his time checking out the design of the room and random art prints on the wall, seongwoo goes straight inside the recording booth and to the drums near the opposite of daniel wall — daniel turns to watch him when he hears the lock of the glass door open. seongwoo looks as excited as a child, and daniel laughs when he sees him rush to sit behind the drumkit, inspecting it in awe, his hands freezing in the air before he dares to touch the drums. daniel walks inside the booth as well, leaning with his shoulder on the doorway.

"how do you like it?" he asks, a bit nervously because seongwoo still hasn't said anything. and even though his reactions might be enough —

"i love it so much!" seongwoo exclaims, looking around himself in search for something. "no sticks?"

"ah," daniel rubs his nose, walking closer and looking around as well. "there aren't any?"

seongwoo shakes his head no. "guess they expected me to bring my own. makes sense. god! this is so cool!"

daniel snickers when seongwoo lovingly traces his fingers on one of the cymbals — daniel doesn't know the name, but it appears to be the biggest one. the drumkit itself is smaller than the ones daniel remembers seeing on the recordings of rock concerts jisung likes to watch sometimes. it's like something is missing, but seongwoo doesn't point it out and daniel decides it must enough for him.

"i'm glad you like it," he says, turning to peer over at the microphones hanging near the window separating the studio and the recording booth. "i really wanted to do something nice for you because… i don't know, when you told me about drums, you just — looked so passionate, i guess?"

he pauses, adjusting one of the mics just to have his profusely sweating hands occupied. he wets his lips, feeling a bit too cheesy.

"it was really nice to see you like that. so, um, i hope you like it here," he says, turning on his heels only to be met with seongwoo standing right in front of him. it startles daniel, but he doesn't get to react, freezing in place as he sees, _feels_ seongwoo lean up and kiss him square on the mouth. his eyes close involuntarily at the contact, and he hesitates for a second too long before putting his hands on seongwoo's waist, careful at first but more surely when seongwoo doesn't shy away.

 

daniel has imagined kissing seongwoo a lot more that he would've liked to, daydreamed about the moment their lips touch, and how seongwoo would smell and what he would taste like, but no fantasy prepares him for the real deal. it feels overwhelming to have seongwoo's thin, soft lips move languidly against his own, to inhale seongwoo's cologne mixed with his natural scent, to hold him in his arms like that — there's a lump in daniel's throat that refuses to go away, and his stomach flips frantically with each passing moment.

it ends before daniel knows it, and he chases seongwoo's lips for a moment before he comes to his senses, eyes flying open and meeting seongwoo's gaze.

"i — " he says, breathing in sharply.

"niellie," seongwoo says his name so quietly, so carefully, so _gently_ , his breath hitting daniel's chin. "i'm sorry for making you wait."

daniel looks between seongwoo's eyes in search for something, afraid this might be some kind of twisted joke. words die on his tongue when he doesn't find anything of the sort, and seongwoo recognizes it as a signal to continue.

"you just confessed so suddenly. i thought — " he pauses, looks down in unusual for him embarrassment. "i thought you liked jaehwan actually — "

"what?!" daniel splutters.

seongwoo grumbles. "shut up. i know. i just… i'm such a fool for you, you know?"

daniel tries not to melt when seongwoo cups his cheek, when his eyes flick up to daniel's and then land on his mouth.

"i've liked you too. i like you too. i'm sorry i wasn't the one to confess," he apologizes and presses his lips together.

"what are you saying?" _this is ridiculous_ , daniel wants to say. he chuckles breathily, fisting the material of seongwoo's jacket in his hands. "don't be."

the conversations stills even though there's a lot of things yet to be said and asked, but seongwoo meets his eyes again and daniel is rendered thoughtless — the brimming happiness he sees makes him bite on his tongue. he can't quite believe this is really happening, but here seongwoo is, in his arms, saying he likes daniel too, looking so impossibly beautiful with his slight stubble and messy hair and bloodshot eyes that daniel's heart aches sweetly.

 

"i love you," he says, just because he can now, and the smile that stretches on his lips when seongwoo laughs hurts his cheeks. "i love you, seongwoo."

seongwoo doesn't say anything, but he tugs daniel closer and slots their lips together again, noses brushing against each other as daniel tilts his head — and that is enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/nxxcity), consider buying me a [coffee](http://ko-fi.com/bvssbot) as thanks and send something to my [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/buttholer)


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